If not for Christmas....

....by New Year's Night.

....is what I thought when I checked on the buds of my Barbarazweig, a few cuttings from a cherry tree.

I was a day late to cut them and put them in a vase ( Dec. 5 instead of Dec. 4). They are supposed to bloom at Christmas. It's an old tradition.
Will they bloom in time?

An out-of-focus shot, but the only alternative was the dark train station in the early morning and the buds won.

19:35; 8°C